Ms Catherine Cox:

I thank the Cathaoirleach, Deputies and Senators for the opportunity to present our pre-budget submission for 2026, Ensuring No One Has to Care Alone. I am head of communications and policy with Family Carers Ireland. I am joined today by family carer Sinead Tighe, who will speak from her own personal experience on some of our key asks.

Across Ireland, over 500,000 people provide unpaid care to children and adults with additional needs or physical or intellectual disabilities, frail older people, those with palliative care needs or those living with chronic illnesses, mental health challenges or addiction. Caring for a loved one can be really rewarding but it can also be really frightening and isolating. It should not be but it is. Despite being described as the backbone of Ireland’s health and social care system, family carers continue to shoulder the consequences of underinvestment in home care supports, outdated policies, eligibility criteria that no longer reflect the realities of modern-day caring, and assumptions that families will do this freely. Specific challenges include financial hardship caused by the outdated carer’s allowance means test, which we will talk about, exhaustion from inadequate respite care, and lengthy delays in accessing essential assessments and support services. Key commitments made by this Government, notably fully funding the carer guarantee, remain undelivered despite several repeated promises.

Our pre-budget submission 2026 outlines eight critical reforms urgently needed to support family carers and prevent a deepening crisis.

These are: abolition of the carer’s allowance means test, fair and adequate income for family carers, a right to respite, the full funding of the carer guarantee; delivery of the statutory home support scheme which has been promised for many years, prioritisation of supports for children with additional needs, delivery of housing, transport and climate justice for family carers, and support of family carers juggling paid work with care in the home. We will speak primarily to the first two of those, as they fall under social protection. We will also refer to some other Departments' supports for carers as these are crucial and fall within the remit of TDs and Senators when they vote on the overall budget.

On abolition of the carer's allowance means test, the programme for Government commits to significantly increasing the income disregard for carer’s allowance in each budget with a view to phasing out the means test over the lifetime of the Government. Family Carers Ireland acknowledges the significant increases in the income disregard in recent years, 2022 and 2024, under the former Minister, Heather Humphreys, and 2025. We acknowledge the profound positive impact this has had on thousands of family carers who will, for the first time ever, receive either a carer's allowance payment or a full carer's allowance payment. Despite these improvements, the means test remains one of the most contentious issues among family carers. We are calling for a transformative shift away from the outdated means test towards a new, inclusive and equitable payment for family carers that recognises and values the work they do. Eligibility criteria for the scheme could remain the same but we should remove the means test and increase the number of hours somebody can work outside the home. Our ask for budget 2026 is for the income disregards to be raised again to €750 for a single person and €1,500 for a couple. We want to see the plan for abolishing the means test by 2027, including setting up an adequate family carer payment or participation income for family carers. The Parliamentary Budget Office estimates abolishing the means test would cost approximately €375 million per year. Those figures are very close to our own figures.

Second is a fair and adequate income for family carers. The carer's allowance is currently €260 per week for somebody under 66. Even before the onset of the cost-of-living crisis, research by the Vincentian Partnership found that households caring for a child with a profound disability faced significant financial strain, with additional weekly costs averaging €244. Since then, rising inflation and soaring living expenses have created an even bleaker reality for family carers. Many struggle to afford necessities such as food, heating and utility bills. In a desperate attempt to cope, carers are increasingly turning to unsustainable measures: falling into debt, cutting back on essentials and even neglecting their own medical needs. This situation is both unacceptable and unsustainable. It is placing vulnerable families at heightened risk.

Our State of Caring 2024 research shows that of more than 2,000 surveyed, 69% struggled to make ends meet, 29% had cut back on food and heat and 23% had missed a mortgage or rent payment in the last year. The research also highlights that caring households with higher earnings have a significantly reduced disposable income, leaving them ill-equipped to manage essential contingencies such as car or home repairs, medical expenses or unforeseen bills. These families often rely on a single income due to the demands of full-time caregiving, yet they are excluded from most carer supports based on income thresholds. As a result, they shoulder the same substantial costs of care without adequate recognition or financial support from the State. Therefore, we ask that the carer's allowance and carer's benefit to be increased to €325 per week at an estimated cost of €285 million.

There are two other budget asks under social protection I would like to highlight. The Government might consider increasing the annual carer's support grant from €2,000 to €2,150. There are about 133,000 people in receipt of that payment. Carers who get to 66 or pension age get the half-rate carer's allowance. It was brought in with the good intention of giving carers an additional payment on reaching pension age, but if somebody gets to that age, they should get their full pension and the full carer's allowance payment. I will hand over to Ms Tighe.